[Editorial] Ministry of Unification in disarray

The Ministry of Unification appears in disarray and without measures to counter North Korea's delay in scheduled inter-Korean undertakings. Minister of Unification Park Jae-Kyu stated at the Sejong Institute's breakfast meeting that the agreed upon inter-Korean plans have to be delayed one or two months due to Pyongyang's shortage of manpower, rapid developments in North Korea-U.S. relations and the time it spent for the observation of its Worker¡¯s Party Foundation anniversary.

Minister Park disclosed that the North sent him a memorandum of understanding to that effect. Park stated that his Ministry will thus have to consider the postponement of the 2nd and 3rd separated family reunions originally scheduled for November and December to December and January respectively. But, the Ministry corrected Park¡¯s statements later in the day by saying that there was no receipt of a memorandum of understanding but the North asked verbally for our understanding of its circumstances surrounding the delayed schedules. Further, the Ministry added that the readjusted reunion schedules for December and January are not final but tentative.

If this was so, the Ministry of Unification should have briefed the nation on the delay of the agreed inter-Korean schedules and asked the people for their understanding on the matter since the issue of separated family reunions has drawn enormous interest and concern. If it came to a judgment that the 2nd reunions were thought to be impossible as scheduled, it should have requested the North to explain the circumstances of the delay. Due measures to counter the situation should also have been taken. Immediately thereafter, the government should have detailed before the nation's anxious people the exact reasons why the 2nd reunions would not come about as agreed, as well as their future directions.

Instead, the government, being unable to contact the North, was only divulging wishy-washy information about the circumstances surrounding the matter as a way of forming a quasi-pretext. Even this was not done openly before the nation but at a closed meeting with a limited audience.

Besides, we have yet to be persuaded by the North's reasons for delaying the agreed inter-Korean schedules as explained by Minister Park. For example, will the continued rapid progress in future in North Korea-U.S. relations, then, mean indefinite postponement of agreed inter-Korean plans? Moreover, what the Minister said was almost instantly corrected by the Ministry. This puts the general public at a total loss, making the people utterly confused about the situation.

Surely, there is a world of difference between the understanding Pyongyang sought after by an official memorandum and one via a verbal communication. Furthermore, was there any special reason Minister Park had to mention December and January as readjusted times for the reunions when they were in fact not decided as a final arrangement?

The administration should know that opposition Grand National Party is very critical about Pyongyang's default of the agreed schedule and the administration's consequential loss of face. We also think it is not right that the Korea National Red Cross, instead of the Ministry of Unification, lodged the complaint against Pyongyang when the 2nd reunions became impossible as scheduled.

According to the Ministry, it had the Red Cross complain, because the Ministry worried that its protest may unduly complicate inter-Korean relations. This is not right. What must be said should be said openly and in a forthright manner. Such an open and principled communication will be conducive to the sound development of inter-Korean relations.